14 Nov 2009: PIPER PA-18-150 — John C. Buller

14 Nov 2009: PIPER PA-18-150 — John C. Buller

No fatalities • Anchorage, AK, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's decision to land and attempt to takeoff from an unsuitable off-airport site.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The private pilot was taking off in a tundra tire-equipped airplane from a snow-covered off-airport site, on a Title 14, CFR Part 91 personal flight. He reported that during the takeoff roll the main wheels struck a snowdrift, and the airplane nosed over, resulting in substantial damage to the wings and wing lift struts. The pilot said there were no preaccident mechanical problems with the airplane, and noted in his report to the NTSB that he should not have landed at the off-airport site with a wheel-equipped airplane. The pilot reported that after the accident he manually activated the airplane’s 406 MHz Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT), and within 20 minutes of doing so, he received a cell phone call from the airplane’s owner inquiring about the accident.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • cause Decision related to condition
  • Effect on operation

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 060/03kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.